September 30, 2011

back online with a great CFRT meeting

Did you know that Fujitsu is the 3rd largest IT services provider in the world? Me neither. Larger than Accenture and CSC, and smaller than HP and half the size of IBM. And 9th largest global software provider, custom consulting for Asian customers. That is what I learned when I attended the CFRT Technology Group’s September 15 2011 meeting hosted by Fujitsu Management Services of Asia Inc. This was my first foray back into the DC EE group since my return from travels earlier this summer. So good to see many of my peers who worked hard all summer to keep the data center energy efficiency industry on target. Maricel Cerruti, Marketing Director of Teladata, and near-founder of CFRT, chaired the meeting because Bruce Myatt, our traditional host was out of town.

The Sunnyvale Data Center was officially launched on April 2010 opening as a tier 3 facility in support of the Richardson, Texas Fujitsu data center, with redundancy and enhanced services. The local data center receives electricity from through PG&E via third party provider, Constellation New Energy. They implemented a fuel cell system to provide electric power in August 2007. Today the Sunnyvale data center covers 32k feet with 100 watts per square feet. It is designed for a 5.5MW maximum load, and is cooled with 3 x 900 ton and 1 x 650 ton water based chiller with dual path cooling, in room ducted CRAH units with ceiling plenum return and roof-top air-side economizers. The gem of the installation is a UTC fuel cell with 200KVA, with plans for a potential expansion of two additional 400 KW units later this fiscal year. It uses only natural gas. UTC has over 260 systems installed worldwide.

It reduces carbon dioxide of 500 tons per year. The fuel stack on the 200 is replaced every 5 years, and the 400 have to be replaced at 10 years. Two hours for monthly and 8 hours for annual maintenance are what gives the stats a 98% uptime.

The hydrogen solution runs 7 x 24 – it is reliable power, it has low sound profile and ultra low emissions. The design is scalable – you add 400kw units, it can be monitored remote, and PG&E offers a $2,250/kW rebate (they got a check for $500,000 from PG&E) and the IRS provides a tax credit up to 30% of the installed cost. This gave them a 3.3 yr payback with a 15 year lifecycle on their first 200kw implementation. Their 400KW units has been estimated at 4.0 to 4.2 years. (If you can’t use the excess heat your payback will go up to 7-8 years.)

Hydrogen fuel cells were first used in NYC in high rises at Verizon Communications and at the First National Bank of Omaha in Nebraska. Westin Hotel and a prison are the other fuel centers.

In contrast, solar needs batteries (3-5 year life cycles) to operate 7x24 which can result in hazardous waste dump. Early 2006 estimates of cost ranged from $2.5 Mil to install a 150KW solar panel and was considered too costly by Fujitsu.

Co-generation has short-term advantages, but is loud (need a sound enclosure) and have a lot of moving parts that require maintenance. They considered a lean-burn natural gas reciprocating engine resulting in 38 – 40% efficiency, unless you capture it to heat buildings and that enables you to reach 50% additional efficiency.

Fujitsu was able to calculate cost avoidance between Aug 2007 and June 2011 at $620,000 for gas and electricity in their Sunnyvale (Silicon Valley) data center.